Novalliance is passionate about its trade as a seed company. It is convinced that people are the key to its success. For that reason, community engagement is also an integral part of the group’s culture. Its vocation is not just to market vegetable seeds, but to take action more broadly in the development of the African continent by partnering with the philanthropic activities of several organizations that work with these populations.
With the encouragement of Novalliance director Ronan Gorin, several team members of the Group, wishing to offer a contribution to African children, founded the Nova4Children organization in 2015. The members collect only in-kind donations (school supplies, books, toys, clothing, etc.), which they accept and sort before sending them to partner organizations located in Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, and Senegal) via Technisem seed containers. The donations come from individuals, companies, and organizations that wish to participate in this initiative and are then distributed to orphanages, many of them located in the bush. In 2017, 230 boxes were distributed in over 20 orphanages.
“This initiative gives us the feeling of being useful and accomplishing something essential for the orphans’ well-being,” says Lisa Moreau, the organization’s president.
Since 2019, Novalliance supports the association Enfants du Désert. Advocating values of access to education, these values are complementary to the Nova4children association. The association Enfants du Désert exists since 2005. It was created following a trip to Morocco that encouraged Laetitia and Emmanuel Chevallier to commit to a meaningful cause: access to education for children in southern Morocco. Access to education is the main objective of Enfants du Désert, but, aware of the correlation between health, living conditions and access to school, the association has broadened its fields of action in order to opt for a global approach in favour of children. Since 2005 their fight to improve the daily lives of children has become that of many others. The action has expanded to reach Argentina today.
Associates of the Semagri company in Cameroon, which is part of the Novalliance group, decided in December 2010 to establish an organization called “La Main tendue” (“outstretched hand”) to take action to help the most disadvantaged, orphans, and abandoned individuals. It works in partnership with Nova4Children and Emmaüs of Saumur to accept donations and send them along to various orphanages in Cameroon.